Paper short abstract:

Tunisia has recently re-discussed strategic orientations concerning cereal production, aiming to reach self-sufficiency in the coming years. This paper will delve into the strategies activated, discourses leveraged, and networks mobilised by actors pushing for inclusive agricultural policies.

Paper long abstract:

Interpreting biodiversity as a ‘network of connections’ (Aistara 2011), the paper explores the current attempt of different groups of social actors striving to shape the future of Tunisian agriculture.

Tunisia’s distinct ecological regions have historically been a crossroads for knowledge and savoirs, creating ripe grounds for genetic diversification. Since the late 1800’s farmers and shepherds’ biodiverse farming practices have been increasingly marginalized as ideologies of agricultural productivity and standardization were coopted as new imperatives. A subsequent 1999 law certified a list of tradable seeds of productive and commercial value that excluded traditional varieties, further cutting the chain of reciprocal relationships between land and people. Despite these interventions, smallholders have continued to reproduce and trade traditional varieties.

The paper will look specifically at how smallholders in times of late capitalism have strived to re-build trusted ‘chains of reciprocity’ that allow them to remain on the land, their choices pointing to what they contest or value while constructing dignified lives. Within this backdrop, the paper will further scrutinize a current attempt led by the National Gene Bank to draft a legal framework for marketing traditional varieties of seeds. Far from being only a catalogue-like collection of local landraces, the draft also aims for a rethinking of agricultural strategies acknowledging the farming population’s essential role in ensuring food sovereignty in the country. We will hence explore practices of sowing and writing as synchronic pushes toward re-establishing ecosystem reciprocity between different social actors involved, delving into the strategies activated, discourses leveraged, and contradictions emerging.